NEW HAVEN, Conn. – There aren't as many back-to-back weekends these days in Ivy League basketball. After its first of the season, Yale might wish there were more.
Danny Wolf scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Bulldogs completed a perfect weekend with an impressive 74-58 victory over Penn at the John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Yale, which beat Princeton 70-64 on Friday, has won eight straight games and is 6-0 Ivy play. The victory over the Quakers sets up a battle for first place next Saturday when Cornell, also 6-0, visits Lee Amphitheater.
Penn fell to 9-12 overall and 1-5 in league games.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
Wolf was 9-of-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range.
Matt Knowling (7-of-8 from the field) added 14 points, and
John Poulakidas had 11 points.
August Mahoney made three 3-pointers to finish with nine points,
Bez Mbeng contributed five points and eight assists, while
Yassine Gharram (5 points),
Casey Simmons (4 points) and
Nick Townsend (2 points) led the bench effort.
Sam Brown scored 20 points to pace the Quakers.
TURNING POINT
Leading 34-28 at the break, the Bulldogs scored the first 12 points of the second half to increase the advantage to 18, 46-28. Penn closed to within nine, 55-46, with 8:21 left, but Yale quickly answered with 14 straight points and coasted from there.
KEY STATS
The Bulldogs shot 52 percent from the field and held the Quakers to 37 percent.
QUOTING JONES
"We were able to get out in transition which was good for us," said
James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "When we are sharing the ball and getting into our offense, we can be pretty good. It's hard to stop us because we have so many options. There are a lot of guys to contend with in the scouting report."
NOTES
• Mbeng matched his career high with eight assists.
• Wolf has now posted a double-double in six of his last seven games. He has nine double-doubles on the season.
• It won't be long before Yale and Penn meet again. The Bulldogs face the Quakers at The Palestra on Feb. 16.
• Over the last 5+ seasons, Yale is 32-6 in Ivy League games at Lee Amphitheater.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bulldogs and Big Red play a matinee at 2 p.m. next Saturday.
